Long Weekend

Coming up to the end of a nice weekend.  It's kind of funny, because it's been really quiet on the work front.  My phone was really quiet - usually there's a lot more work-related emails.  But I've been excited.  I was initially bummed that it was a long weekend because I'm excited about my new role and I'm ready to get started.

Saturday we had lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Tukwilla.  It's a pretty new one -- not really "old" except in name.  This is the first one I've been to where you can sit at a table and see "Layne Bryant" and "Panera Bread" out the window.  Most usually either don't have a lot of windows or they look out on an older part of town.  It was my grandma's birthday and it was a wonderful time with her, my mom and dad, Lori, Rachel, Ben, Jeff, Hilary, Andrew, Nathan, Jan, Corey, Gilda and Zeke.  Then we just kind of hung out for the afternoon after that.  A long run that night put me up on a hill in Tacoma where I realized my only way out was straight back down.  A nice neighborhood, but very remote.  I think I can get some great cues for making our home more welcoming, especially after dark, by returning to this neighborhood and taking notes.

Sunday was church and then we had lunch at The Commons.  Afterwards, another more casual day.  All in all, it was a weekend that was hard to get motivated to do much.  Eventually I went and removed the rest of the branches I wanted to remove from the big tree out back.  Little did I know our new neighbors were simultaneously installing a new bright security light for their backyard.  Guess curtains (we have blinds) will be in our future.

I had trouble sleeping overnight and then there was a power-outage early in the morning.  That meant things beeping and clicking and whirring to a stop.  That was enough to keep me up for a little bit.   When I finally did get up (after the power had returned) coffee and an incredibly slow start to the day.  We finally got out the door, off to Panda and that took forever.  And then quickly through Lowes, nothing there of interest.  And then over to Home Depot for some paint samples and a few other things.  And then back home.  Quickly taped up a portion of the wall in the entry bathroom and painted two coats of pure white in preparation for sample color painting tomorrow.  (The master bath is Swiss Coffee, which is either a more sophisticated white or dingy white, depending the light.)  And then dinner, a run and here we are.